Being online just about always has occasionally left me craving a simpler time. I could break in to the Old Man Delaney ‘When I was a kid’ Routine, but nobody wants to hear that. The truth is, I’ve been online since I was a kid.

I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling. As the number of people who are connected online rapidly increases, especially via mobile. The more I believe we will all crave some down time, to rest our eyes and our minds.

The Tangible Web

In 2012, we’re going to see many examples of what I’m calling the Tangible Web. This year a few examples come to mind of ways we can already use our online content to create tangible items.

Back in April, I wrote about Postagram. The amazing service by Sincerely, allows Instagram users to pay $.99 to turn a photo into a postcard, all via your iPhone. They even cover the cost of the stamp!

Blurb is also doing great things with their simple interface to create books from your Instagram and Facebook photos. Why not create a real photo book to pass to your friends and family to share your memories?

Little Printer

What has me most excited right now is Little Printer, which isn’t available until early 2012. This cute little printer prints news headlines from the Guardian, your fitness report from Nike, your friend’s check-ins via Foursquare, Soduko puzzles, your local weather forecast, and more.

This amazing device by London design consultancy BERG, takes personalized online content and spits out an adorable, receipt-sized strip of paper each day. It’s perfect to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee. Did I mention I’m excited about this?

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Great post, and I agree that it’s a very exciting prospect! Even when our interactions are becoming overwhelmingly digital, I think we’ll never lose our interest in “real” things we can hold and carry around without plugging them in. (At least for a few generations…) I’ll be interested to check out Little Printer in more detail.